A Ticket To Thrive from The Humpty Dumpty Singalong
Welcome to our #TicketToThrive campaign. We believe wholeheartedly that doing something creative with your child will benefit you both. We’ve asked some other people who believe in the power of creativity to talk a little about a benefit they have seen when families get creative, and to suggest a simple activity that you can do at home. Today, we hear from Deborah, founder of The Humpty Dumpty Singalong.
Tell us about The Humpty Dumpty Singalong: I started the Humpty Dumpty Singalong in 2016 when my son was a toddler and had started attending playschool a couple of mornings a week. I love singing, having been in many choirs in my time and was struck by how much singing with my son had helped his communication skills to develop as well as deepening our bond and being a quick and easy way to make him smile!
I did lots of research around the MANY benefits of singing and music for babies and toddlers and decided to take the plunge and start my own little singing group in my local area! (Humpty Dumpty was my son’s favourite nursery rhyme at the time, hence the name and mascot!). I wanted to provide a space for new mums and dads and carers to meet others, have a cup of tea and enjoy some group singing which is great for your own well-being. I found a fabulous community centre in Archway and have gradually built up my sessions from there. I have many lovely regular customers, some of whom used to come in the beginning with their first child and have now returned with their second, which makes me very happy!
My singalong is exactly that! Mums, dads and carers come along and are invited to sing along to the nursery rhymes and other popular songs I may be singing that week that aren’t necessarily your usual ‘baby’ songs. We have action songs, soft toys, floaty scarves, puppets, instruments, bubbles and parachute. There’s lots of repetition to reinforce learning, encourage awareness of different sounds and vocabulary, build anticipation and develop motor skills — it’s always a thrill when the little ones start to try the actions of a song or even start making sounds from the songs. The first time a baby claps for ‘Wind the Bobbin Up’ or does the wheels action for ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ always gives me a big smile!!
The sessions have changed a lot since I started the business. I now play the ukulele after getting one for my birthday in 2017 and gradually learning to play more and more songs on it! The babies and toddlers love it and the live music element provides another aspect of learning for the children, hearing lots of rhythm and different ways to make sound. There are always lots of smiles, laughs and opportunities to make friends, and for my sessions that aren’t in cafes I try to make sure there is a cup of tea and biscuits available as I know what it’s like trying to get out of the house as a new parent, sometimes you just don’t have time for the morning cuppa!
I run an under-1s session for a more gentle introduction for tiny babies which is great for new mums and dads and the rest of my usual sessions are for 0–2 years old.
Ticket to Thrive is all about encouraging families to do creative activities together. What do families gain from coming to your classes? By singing nursery rhymes, with their simple language and sentence construction, to your baby on a daily basis, as well as other songs you like, you will have a massive effect on their communication skills, their ability to distinguish between different sounds, their concentration skills, their understanding of rhyme (which is vital for children when they start to learn to read), the amount of different vocabulary they are exposed to (when do you ever talk about a bobbin in normal everyday life?!), their motor skills and of course their bond with you.
My sessions provide a useful reminder of nursery rhymes (let’s face it — it’s hard to remember songs from our childhood and it’s not something you think about before you have kids!) and are an introduction to more songs you can sing at home with your baby, and actions you can do with them. I hear wonderful stories from many of my customers about songs they have learnt at my sessions being sung at home, which I definitely encourage!
My singalongs also give families the opportunity to listen live to music and join in with singing, the live aspect engages children in a different way to recorded music. They can actually see how your mouth and hands are moving to create the sounds you are making and are able to try it themselves when they are ready.
Finally, my sessions aren’t just for the children! Singing is great for your own mental health (how good do you feel when you belt out a song in the car or the shower when nobody is listening?!). Even if you think you can’t sing, everybody can and should give it a go! It may not always be in tune but your baby does not care at all about that! They just love the fact that their important person is singing to them! If you’re not convinced, you could always start out with chants and rhymes and see where that takes you.
How can families get the same benefits at home? Make it part of your daily routine to take some time to do some singing. Songs are brilliant to help signal transitions and make things more bearable for babies — going to sleep, brushing teeth, having a bath, getting dressed, nappy changes etc! The tune to “Here we go round the Mulberry Bush” lends itself perfectly to this, with you singing “This is the way we…..brush our teeth” etc.
It’s sometimes hard to bring to mind nursery rhymes and songs to sing and one good idea is to make a props box or bag with various items in to remind you and your baby of different songs. Here is one I’ve made just with some simple instruments, a floaty scarf and various soft toys from places like Ikea (good for finger puppets and small animals) and charity shops. The songs to go with my box are:
Mouse finger puppet: Hickory Dickory Dock
Frog finger puppet: Five Little Speckled Frogs
Elephant finger puppet: Nellie the Elephant
Monkey glove: 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
Humpty: Humpty Dumpty
Crocodile finger puppet: Row, Row, Row Your Boat (ok tenuous link but I didn’t have a boat to hand!)
Lion finger puppet: The Lion Sleeps Tonight
Star: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Duck: 5 Little Ducks
Pig: This Little Piggy Went to Market
Rabbit: Sleeping Bunnies
Sheep: Baa Baa Black Sheep
Dog: How Much is that Doggie in the Window
Cow: Hey Diddle Diddle
Alien puppets: Four Little Men in a Flying Saucer (the song is normally with 5 men but my puppet only has 4 aliens in it!!)
Floaty scarf: Peekaboo
Shakers: to play along giving a percussive element to the songs
Even some laminated pictures in a bag for them to pick out would do or any other props you have around the house that are baby safe. If I was making one for a baby now I would use less items so as not to overwhelm but this gives you an idea.
You can start by picking out an item then singing the song associated with it, then gradually they will start picking them, and will learn to associate the objects with the fun song! There are many You Tube channels to provide a reminder of the tunes and lyrics to nursery rhymes if you need a hand. (My favourite was Little Baby Bum). Make singing and music a part of your every day life at home and you really will be giving your child a wonderful start in life.
The Humpty Dumpty Singalong is a singalong for babies, toddlers and their grown-ups, run by Deborah Brodie. Her sessions are based in North London and run every week as drop-in sessions: Mondays at 2pm, Brick and Olive Cafe for 0–2 year olds; Tuesdays at 11am, Cape Adventure Playground, for under 1s only (summer sessions will be at an alternative venue so please check before setting off!); Wednesdays at 11am, Hargrave Hall, for 0–2 year olds. In addition, this Summer, Humpty is venturing outside for some al-fresco singalong sessions in conjunction with Messy Play in the Park by A Fine Mess UK. Sessions will take place in Whittington Park and Waterlow Park and information can be found on Hoop. All sessions are drop in (although reserving your place on Hoop is advised) and you can find out more on Hoop, or on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Humpty and Debs also love to do birthday singalongs at 1st and 2nd birthday parties. Please get in touch to find out about their very reasonable rates at thehumptydumptysingalong@hotmail.com! The Humpty Dumpty Singalong are very kindly offering us two class passes (valid for 5 free sessions each) to give away. To enter, visit our Let’s Play London social media accounts at the link below.
Let’s Play London shines a spotlight on the best theatre and live performance for Under 5s in London. Find us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
